Speaker rules in favour of the President

The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey on Thursday said it was right for the President not to have recognised the presence of non-members of Parliament in his message on the state of the nation delivered to the House on February 15, this year.

He said Mr John Agyekum Kufuor was addressing Parliament and that it was right for him to skip other dignitaries invited to the house because the address was meant for Parliament. The Speaker said once the President recognised the Speaker and Honourable members of Parliament there was no need for him to salute "strangers" present at the function.

Mr Adjetey gave the ruling when Isaac Kwadwo Adjei- Mensah, Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Techiman North criticised the President for not recognising the presence of the Vice-President, traditional rulers, the diplomatic corps, the judiciary and top security officers invited to the inauguration of Parliament.

Mr. Adjei-Mensah said he was appalled by that serious omission in the President's address and wanted the situation corrected for posterity not to condemn Parliament in the future.

At that juncture Mr Joseph Dark-Mensah, NPP Okaikwei North rose on point of information to which Mr Adjei-Mensah objected, and declared that he would not yield to any information. This prompted Mr Adjetey to say that what Mr Adjei-Mensah was saying had been addressed in the House and that there was no need referring to the issue.

When Mr Adjei-Mensah drew the Speaker's attention to the law that he is not to participate in debate the Speaker said he was giving the ruling on a matter of propriety.

"I am giving a ruling on the matter and if you challenge my ruling do it in a proper manner by way of a motion," the Speaker explained.

Mr Adjetey said although the Vice-President was the second most important citizen he was "technically a stranger to the House" and that it was not necessary for him to be recognised by the President in the protocol.

Mr Adjei-Mensah said it was right for the President to say that the expectations of Ghanaians were high and that he expected the President to have announced the abolition of school fees and the cancellation of the cash and carry system, in line with the positive change promised Ghanaians. He regretted that one cannot mention the eradication of guinea worm without referring to potable water and yet the President chose to ignore the numerous water projects initiated by the NDC government.

Mr Adjei-Mensah said the over sung trillion cedis debts were incurred on the "Parliament where we are all sitting comfortably, the electricity we are enjoying in the villages, the roads we are using, the schools, the hospitals and the bullet proof Mercedes Benz and the motorcades".

Mr Akwasi Afrifa, NPP Fomena said landowners should use part of the proceeds from their land sales to buy shares in companies, which establish businesses on their lands.

In this way the land tenure system would have been under-going changes that would reduce litigation and activities of land guards.

He said the government should tackle security matters seriously because investors cannot carry on business in an atmosphere of serial killings and armed robberies.

Mr Afrifa said soldiers should learn a trade while serving and so that when they are on retirement they could earn additional income from such undertakings.